Stratigraphy and Paleolimnology of the Green River Formation, Western USA

359 Pages·2015·32.297 MB·English

by  Michael Elliot Smith, Alan R. Carroll (eds.)

Syntheses in Limnogeology 1
Michael Elliot Smith
Alan R. Carroll Editors
Stratigraphy and
Paleolimnology
of the Green
River Formation,
Western USA
Syntheses in Limnogeology
Volume 1
Series Editors
Michael R. Rosen
Department of Geological Sciences and Engineering ,
University of Nevada , Reno , Nevada , USA
Elizabeth Gierlowski-Kordesch
Department of Geological Sciences ,
Ohio University , Athens , Ohio , USA
Aims and Scope
The aim of this book series is to focus on syntheses or summaries of modern
and/or ancient lake systems worldwide. Individual books will present as
much information as is available for a particular lake basin or system of
basins to offer readers one distinct reference as a guide to conduct further
work in these areas. The books will synthesize the tectonics, basin evolution,
paleohydrology, and paleoclimate of these basins and provide unbiased new
interpretations or provide information on both sides of controversial issues.
In addition, some books in the series will synthesize special topics in
limnogeology, such as historical records of pollution in lake sediments and
global paleoclimate signatures from lake sediment records.
More information about this series at h ttp://www.springer.com/series/10029
Michael Elliot Smith (cid:129) Alan R. Carroll
Editors
Stratigraphy and
Paleolimnology of the
Green River Formation,
Western USA
Editors
Michael Elliot Smith Alan R. Carroll
School of Earth Science Department of Geoscience
and Environmental Sustainability University of Wisconsin-Madison
Northern Arizona University Madison , WI , USA
Flagstaff , AZ , USA
Additional material to this book can be downloaded from http://extras.springer.com.
ISSN 2211-2731 ISSN 2211-274X (electronic)
Syntheses in Limnogeology
ISBN 978-94-017-9905-8 ISBN 978-94-017-9906-5 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-94-017-9906-5
Library of Congress Control Number: 2015943673
Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg New York London
© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015
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Cover illustration: View north towards carbonate mounds at the contact between the Wilkins
Peak Member and overlying Laney Member of the Green River Formation near the southern
edge of the Greater Green River Basin in southwest Wyoming. Flaming Gorge Reservoir can be
seen in the background to the left of gently dipping mudstone strata of the Laney Member
(photograph taken by Michael Elliot Smith, 2004)
Printed on acid-free paper
S pringer Science+Business Media B.V. Dordrecht is part of Springer Science+Business Media
(www.springer.com)
Pref ace
This book was originally conceived at a dinner meeting with Beth
Gierlowski- Kordesch, Kevin Bohacs and Mike Rosen in Portland, Oregon
during the GSA annual meeting of 2009. Its purpose is two-fold: (1) to
provide a logical starting point to its strata; and (2) to showcase the wealth of
sedimentary geology currently being conducted on its strata. Our hope is that
the reader can effi ciently discover a wealth of accumulated knowledge and at
the same get a snapshot of the current cutting edge of sedimentary research
on lacustrine depositional systems.
O ur gratitude goes out to all of the contributors and reviewers of this
volume.
Flagstaff , AZ , USA Michael Elliot Smith
Madison , WI , USA Alan R. Carroll
February, 2015
v

Contents
1 Introduction to the Green River Formation ............................... 1
Michael Elliot Smith and Alan R. Carroll
2 Initiation of Eocene Lacustrine Sedimentation
in the Greater Green River Basin: Luman Member
of the Green River Formation ...................................................... 13
Brooke Ann Norsted , Alan R. Carroll ,
and Michael Elliot Smith
3 Lacustrine Sedimentology, Stratigraphy and Stable
Isotope Geochemistry of the Tipton Member
of the Green River Formation ...................................................... 31
Jennifer Walker Graf , Alan R. Carroll ,
and Michael Elliot Smith
4 Stratigraphic Expression of Climate, Tectonism,
and Geomorphic Forcing in an Underfi lled Lake Basin:
Wilkins Peak Member of the Green River Formation .............. 61
Michael Elliot Smith , Alan R. Carroll , and Jennifer Jane Scott
5 Lake Type Transition from Balanced-Fill to Overfi lled:
Laney Member, Green River Formation,
Washakie Basin, Wyoming ........................................................... 103
Meredith K. Rhodes and Alan R. Carroll
6 Stratigraphy and Interbasinal Correlations Between
Fossil and the Green River Basin, Wyoming .............................. 127
H. Paul Buchheim , Roberto E. Biaggi ,
and Robert A. Cushman Jr.
7 Sedimentology of the World Class Organic-Rich
Lacustrine System, Piceance Basin, Colorado ........................... 153
Kati Tänavsuu-Milkeviciene and J. Frederick Sarg
8 Mineralogy of the Green River Formation
in the Piceance Creek Basin, Colorado ....................................... 183
Jeremy Boak and Sheven Poole
vii
viii Contents
9 Facies, Stratigraphic Architecture, and Lake Evolution
of the Oil Shale Bearing Green River Formation,
Eastern Uinta Basin, Utah ............................................................ 211
Morgan J. Rosenberg, Lauren P. Birgenheier,
and Michael D. Vanden Berg
10 Phosphatic Carbonate Shale of the “Bird’s Nest
Saline Zone”, Upper Green River Formation,
Uinta Basin, Utah .......................................................................... 251
Dave Keighley
11 Evaporites of the Green River Formation, Bridger
and Piceance Creek Basins: Deposition, Diagenesis,
Paleobrine Chemistry, and Eocene Atmospheric CO ............... 277
2
Elliot A. Jagniecki and Tim K. Lowenstein
12 Trace Fossils of the Eocene Green River Lake Basins,
Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado .................................................... 313
Jennifer Jane Scott and Michael Elliot Smith
Index ....................................................................................................... 351
1
Introduction to the Green River
Formation
Michael Elliot Smith and Alan R. Carroll
Abstract
The Green River Formation of Wyoming, Colorado and Utah contains an
important record of the paleogeography, climate and lakes in the Rocky
Mountains region during the Early Eocene epoch. Its have been a source
of inspiration for paleolimnologists since before the term paleolimnology
came to exist. Its strata contain fossil faunas and fl ora, extensive resources
of trona and kerogenous shale, and one of the most complete records of the
Early Eocene Climatic Optimum. Emerging geochronology has permitted
correlations of the Green River Formation between the structural basins
that contain it, and is beginning to bring to tempo and origins of the pro-
nounced cyclity exhibited by the Green River Formation into focus. Each
of the 11 subsequent chapters of this book presents a suite of detailed
stratigraphic and sedimentologic investigations of the Green River
Formation within the Green River Formation basins.
1.1 A Rich Lacustrine Archive
of the Early Eocene Earth
The Green River Formation is a complex amal-
gam of Eocene lacustrine strata that was depos-
M. E. Smith (*)
ited within a series of intermontane basins
School of Earth Science and Environmental
Sustainability , Northern Arizona University , surrounding the Uinta Uplift during the end
602 S. Humphreys , Flagstaff , AZ 86011 , USA phases of Laramide basement deformation in the
e-mail: [email protected]
U.S. foreland (Fig. 1.1 ). Since it was fi rst named
A. R. Carroll by the Hayden survey in 1 869 , the Green River
Department of Geoscience , University of Wisconsin-
Formation has been the subject of over 2,500 pub-
Madison , 1215 W. Dayton St. , Madison ,
lications. Its strata occupy four structural basins
WI 53706 , USA
e-mail: [email protected] arrayed around the Uinta Uplift: the Greater
© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015 1
M.E. Smith, A.R. Carroll (eds.), Stratigraphy and Paleolimnology of the Green River Formation,
Western USA, Syntheses in Limnogeology 1, DOI 10.1007/978-94-017-9906-5_1